This invention relates to telephony, and more particularly, to an improved technique for implementing the setup of telephone calls.
A typical call setup procedure through a telephone network is accomplished by the initiator of the telephone call entering a desired number to be called, and the telephone switch arranging for a connection from the calling telephone to the called telephone. However, due to billing practices and varying rates among telephone companies, there are situations when this protocol is undesirable.
For example, due to time differences and/or local access rates, it may be less expensive for a first party in San Francisco to call a second party in New York at a particular time of day than it is for the second party in New York to call the first party in San Francisco at the same time. In international calling, often calls coming into the country are billed at a different rate than calls leaving the country. Thus, the direction that the call was made once again becomes critical in determining its price.
It can be appreciated that if the calling party and called party can agree between them who shall pay for the call, then it is not relevant, as a practical matter, which way the call is initiated, as long as a telephone connection between the two parties can be established. Accordingly, it can be appreciated that a significant cost savings can be achieved by deriving a technique whereby a calling party desiring to make a call to a called party can instruct the telephone network to place the call such that the minimum cost is incurred.
Presently, systems known as automatic callback exist, and are intended to minimize calling costs. To describe such systems, consider a first user in Brazil who wants to call a second user in New York. Presume it is much cheaper to call Brazil from New York than to call New York from Brazil.
The first user dials the automatic callback system, which is a computer located in the New York area, and hangs up after two rings. The computer, based upon the channel on which the incoming call arrived, knows the first caller""s telephone number and calls that number back on a first telephone line. The computer then takes a second telephone line off hook, and sends the dial tone to the caller in Brazil by bridging the first and second lines. Thus, no call from Brazil to New York is made. Rather, a first call from New York to Brazil is made, and a second call is made from the computer to the second user. It can be appreciated that the user interface in such a system is quite cumbersome and becomes even more cumbersome if additional parties are desired to be added to the phone conversation.
There are also prior art systems which utilize a data network to conduct a voice conversation between two audio equipped terminals. Such systems however, do not utilize the PSTN.
The above and other problems of the prior art are overcome in accordance with the present invention which relates to a technique of minimizing the cost of a call by allowing a calling party to select whether the call is established as an incoming or an outgoing call. In accordance with the present invention, a hybrid switch is utilized which acts both as a telephone switch and a data switch. The switch has interface connections to both the public switched telephone network as well as wide area data networks, such as the Internet or similar such networks.
A calling party accesses the switch at a remote location via the data network and instructs the switch to utilize the public switched telephone network to form a connection from the called party back to the calling party. Thus, the telephone call that the calling party desires is accomplished as an incoming call through his local switch, rather than an outgoing call. Thus, costs are minimized.